If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the forum FAQ and the House Rules and Forum Guidelines.
You will have to register before you can post. If you find your registration is rejected, please try again using a different username. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Takes a couple seasons to get the players necessary to break the CL qualifiers etc. Once you do though (and the subsequent £6million cash injection), it becomes a lot easier to continually qualify for the group stages.

I need my reputation to rise at the moment, I've got a bit of money but just can't attract any players better than the ones I have. Ideally we need to turn professional, but apparently we can't afford that.

My few times trying the Gundo Challenge in NI would suggest you either turn professional when you have enough money (qualify for CL group stages) or if you win the league 6 or 7 times consecutively. The former is the most likely incident to occur first.

I need my reputation to rise at the moment, I've got a bit of money but just can't attract any players better than the ones I have. Ideally we need to turn professional, but apparently we can't afford that.

What happened to the million you won?! Having followed your careers I know you really love those red numbers

It hasn't taken long, but I think the domestic challenge may be over. I have a feeling that the progress over the next few years will be slow as we try and work our way to professional status and start bringing the club up to a level that can compete outside of Northern Ireland.

We were holding on to the 0-0 draw we needed when Sheriff had a man sent off. This changed the game enough for us to take control and grab a winner. We now face Renova Dzepcitse of Macedonia in the next qualifying round.

AIK were much better in this match and scored an early goal, but as they pushed forward we were able to hit them on the break managing another unlikely win.

This means we have made the Champions League group stage and the £6m that comes with it. I'm shocked that we've made it, but the 'champions route' in the qualifiers makes a huge difference for clubs like us. Had the qualifiers been in the old format, we'd have come up against clubs like Arsenal, Valencia, Fiorentina, Schalke and Porto. Instead, the worst we could have been drawn against was perhaps Standard Liege.

We were lucky to come away with this scoreline as AC Milan looked like they could score at will. Our counter attacks looked so slow and it wasn't until the last few minutes when we managed to have a shot (which hit the post). The other two teams drew, so there is still hope!

You being a "one-tactic" kinda man,are the backroom staff pestering you about tactics?

It is a bit weird, I was expecting something like 20 seasons before I got anywhere near this sort of thing. It won't last though, the good players all want to leave for bigger clubs already. We can only really go backwards over the next few years, despite possibly turning pro.

The backroom staff pester me about match preparation (which is odd since they handle it) but not tactics.

It's not too easy, it's just pure football. When a manager has almost total control, and he has talent, you see what happens in Brian Clough's story. And in the same story, you see what happens when they aren't in control. Prolonged success only ccomes when there is only one boss. Such as Sir Alex Ferguson but irl there's almost never a single boss. Every single director wants different things and that chaos prevents the team from becaoming succesful. FM is about pure football, that's why it's so good

It's unrealistic the amount of control you get given right off the bat - certain managers do earn the right to dictate everything that goes on at a club after they've paid their dues like Ferguson, or have a proven track record - see Mourinho vs Valdano at Madrid.

However, adding in meddling directors of football etc would just add more frustrations and almost certainly make GD explode with self-righteous indignation, so probably best to keep it how it is.

Definately a Hot prospect for future and on the player screen how do you change it so u can have biography and loads of different stuff instead of the default 6 like attributes but can have 12 like urs if ya know what i mean :L